it’s so tragic.”
Chad shook his head and sat down. He flashed a look at both Fred and Paul, but didn’t say anything to them. Romeo pointed his chin towards Chad.
“I like the hair.”
Chad laughed, brushing his hand through his freshly trimmed strands. “Thanks.”
“Did you do it yourself?”
Chad narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Oh…”
“You’re such an asshole.”
“I said it looked good, didn’t I?”
“Yours is looking wild.”
“I’ve got to do it myself nowadays.”
Chad swallowed hard and turned away.
“You got a newspaper?”
“Wouldn’t come without one.”
Chad laid it out on the table. He flicked through until he found the puzzle page, then slid the crossword as close to the plastic barrier as it could get.
“Oh, it’s a naughty one today…” Romeo said.
He was feeling frisky.
Chad frowned, studying the clues. None of them were considered naughty, but they never filled the crossword out how it was supposed to be done anyway.
“I don’t see—
“What about this one?” Romeo said. “More than want, six letters…”
“Need … crave…”
Romeo smirked. “Have you forgotten how crosswords work? It’s only been a week.”
Chad narrowed his big brown eyes, and the skin pinched together at the top of his nose.
“Desire.” Chad said.
Romeo nodded, licking his lips. “That’s right.”
“Okay … how about this, strong affection, seven letters.”
“It’s not love then.”
Chad’s cheeks burst with red pigment, and he pretended to study the crossword clues, the non-existent ones.
“Passion.” Romeo said.
Romeo saw the tilt of Chad’s smile. He wrote the letters in some random boxes, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.”
“Here’s a good one. The act of suffocation by constricting airflow, some find pleasurable, seven letters.”
“Choking…”
Romeo looked at Chad’s neck and twitched his fingers. He remembered tightening his hand around Chad’s throat, his eyes had rolled back, his body relaxed, all apart from the hole Romeo was thrusting into. That tightened like a vice when Chad’s orgasm hit, wringing his own from his cock in pulses. He was getting hot and hard thinking about it, and by the way Chad was fidgeting on the other side of the barrier, he was, too.
211 days since he’d last had sex.
But with hours to kill in his cell, sometimes the best way to spend it was remembering Chad and himself in the farmhouse. The last week, they’d barely kept off each other. It had been a case of eat, sleep, sex, and repeat, but the monster in his head had been lurking, getting impatient.
“What kind of crossword is this?” Paul asked.
Romeo blinked out of his lusting haze and looked back at Paul.
“It’s the—the Valentine’s edition.” Chad said
“Valentine’s day? That was a week ago.”
“Yeah, I got this from the wastepaper bin at work.”
Romeo raised his eyebrows. “Thanks a lot, not even worth a recent copy.”
“Choking is not pleasurable.” Paul said.
Romeo turned away. “Have you tried it?”
“It’s sick and twisted.”
“No,” Romeo said, “You’re doing it all wrong if you’re twisting.”
“You’re an animal, Romeo.”
“I prefer monster.”
“Do you think this is funny?”
Romeo could tell by the movement of Chad’s eyes that Paul was talking to Chad, not him.
“Joking about choking, that’s how he killed them right? He strangled them, you even saw the victims after he was done with them, and now you’re laughing about it.”
“I’m not laughing about it.”
“Looks that way. You coming here looks as if you think his crime was a joke, not serious, not devastating for the people directly involved and the whole country who were terrified for months.”
Chad clenched and relaxed his hand on the table. The gesture wasn’t threatening, but stress related. Every time Chad got uncomfortable, he started the odd routine, grounding himself, getting his emotions under control. Romeo wondered whether it was something his therapist had taught him, or if he just started doing it on his own. Either way, he did the odd hand pulses while his eyes got more and more distant.
“I’m here to see Romeo, not the countdown killer.”
“They’re the same fucking person.”
“Enough.” Fred said.
“But—
“Yeah, listen to your superior.” Romeo mumbled.
“He’s not my superior.”
“In intelligence he is. You’re not really angry at Chad, you’re just taking it out on him. I know why you’re angry…”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Five-foot-six, blonde hair, wears high heels and lots of lipstick.”
“Don’t bring Holly into this.”
“And there it is, the root of all anger and frustration.”
Chad frowned. “You’re still seeing Holly?”
Romeo spoke over his shoulder. “Yeah, she keeps putting the publication date back. She can’t seem to stay away from me.”
He smiled when he heard footsteps behind him, Paul rushing forward only to be stopped by Fred.
“Paul calm down.” Fred cleared his throat, then spoke to Romeo.